July 29, Happy Birthday George Dixon

George Dixon born on July 29, 1870, was a black Canadian professional boxer. He was not only the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion but also first black world boxing champion in any class. He was born in Africville, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was known as “little chocolate.” At the beginning of his professional boxing career, he was 5 feet 3.5 inches tall and weighed 87 pounds. He was considered one of the all time greats.

Ring magazine ranked him as number 1 Featherweight of all times. He was inducted into Canada’s Hall of Fame and Ring Magzine’s Hall of Fame in 1955 and 1956 respectively. He was also inducted into International Hall of Fame in 1990. He was also recognized for developing for developing Shadowboxing. Throughout his boxing career, he had 163 total fights. He won 73 and won another 36 by knockouts. Dixon lost 30 fights, 55 fights were draws.

He won the world Bantamweight championship by knocking out Nunc Wallace of England in the 18th round. The fight was held in London. He held the championship of Featherweight from July 28, 1891when he knocked out Abe Willis of Australia to October 4, 1897.

He participated in the three-day Carnival of champions in New Orleans. During this carnival boxing’s top contenders met and matched against one another. He fought against Jack Skelly who was white. Dixon broke his nose and knocked him out in the eighteen round. White fans present at the carnival reacted with disgust and shock upon which Olympia Club decided not to conduct any more mixed race fights this incident also limited the access of other black players to matches, including heavy weight championships.

On offense, he hit with both hands but typically used a long, straight left accompanied by a stiff right. On defense, he defended himself well. His quickness and ducking ability made him a hard target to strike. He is considered one of the best professional fighters in the history of Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions.

He moved to Boston, where he had his family. He continued to live there. He died on January 6, 1908, in New York City, New York, United States of America. He was 37 years old. He was penniless, and part of his bills was paid by charity boxing tournament put on January 23, 1908.